Tuesday, February 28, 2012

“Will this project help my brother come back to us after being deported?” This question was asked by an eighth grade student Southwest Community Campus (SWCC) when her class was introduced to their assignment for the semester: write an article about immigration or injustice, create a piece of artwork to pair with the article, and then publish the article with the artwork and share your story.

Alejandro Escamilla teaches journalism to seventh and eighth graders at SWCC. His “Words R Us” project is a collaboration of journalism and art, designed to help give his students an outlet and a voice. The students are busy working on their writing assignments, and in March they will pay weekly visits to the Cook Arts Center to work with Reyna Garcia, a local artist whose work focuses on the subject.